Irlande

1716 · 008435 — St. James's Palace London 1716. Document. This original 15 June 1716 document signed by Britain’s King George I authorizes reimbursement for care given to prisoners in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1715 which asserted the right of the Stuarts to the throne over the Hanoverians of which King George I was the first. <br /> <br />The document is a single sheet of laid watermarked paper measuring 15.75 x 12.75 inches folded to form four 7.875 x 12.75 inches panels. The first panel features the King’s order prominently signed by him “George R” at the head of the document. The document is further signed at the foot “By His Majesty’s Command” by “Wm Pulteney” the future 1st Earl of Bath who was then serving as Secretary of War. The document is addressed at the lower left to “Henry Earl of Lincoln Pay Master Generall of Our Guards Garrisons & Land Forces in Great Britain and Forces abroad.” The document orders the Earl of Lincoln to “Pay unto John Mulcaster Agent and Sollicitor for transacting the Affairs of the Rebell Prisons the sum of Six hundred Ninety Two Pounds Three Shillings and Five Pence… to be paid over to Lt. Col. Solomon Rapin in satisfaction of the like Summ disburs’d by him in Nurses Medicines and other necessary Contingencys for the use of the Rebell Prisoners at the several Places they are kept from the 14th of Nov. 1715 to the 30th of Aprill 1716.” The inconclusive Battle of Sheriffmuir had taken place on 13 November 1715. The document was executed “at Our Court at St. James’s this 15. Day of June 1716. In the Second Year of Our Reign.” <br /> <br />The document bears three horizontal folds ostensibly where it was folded and sealed for original transmittal to Henry Earl of Lincoln. On the second panel is written the name “John Mulcaster”. The first and second sections of the upper fourth panel were obviously from the soiling and writing thereon the outer folded portions of the document when it was transmitted. Horizontally on the second section of the upper fourth panel is written: “Warrant for. 692.3.5. to Mr. John Mulcaster in satisfaction of the like Summ Disburs’d by Lt. Col. Sol. Rapin in Nurses Medicines sec. for the Rebell Prisoners from 14th. Nov. 1715. To 30th. Aprill 1716.” all above the date “June 16th. 1716”. <br /> <br />Condition is very good overall. The document is all but complete with only fractional loss to the lower right corner two tiny holes at the intersection of vertical and horizontal folds and a short closed tear and minor associated loss at the upper right corner of the rear panel. The document shows light overall soiling and spotting the soiling heavy only on the upper rear panel which served as the outer faces when the document was originally folded for transmittal. <br /> <br />The future King George I was born Georg Ludwig in Hanover perhaps not an obvious route to the British throne. However “the death in July 1700 of the duke of Gloucester reopened the question of the English succession… That successor had to be a Protestant—no Roman Catholic would have been considered—and of Stuart descent a combination which automatically excluded over fifty claimants with a closer hereditary claim.” The person who united these qualifications was Georg’s mother Sophia 1630-1714 youngest daughter of Frederick V of the Palatinate Winter King of Bohemia and of Elizabeth daughter of James I of England. <br /> <br />When he signed this document King George I 1660–1727 had only recently assumed the throne of Great Britain and Ireland ten months earlier in August 1715. The Jacobite cause pressed unsuccessfully upon his enthronement would be pressed with rebellious force of arms again in 1745 also to no avail. The Hanoverian period was remarkably stable not least because of the longevity of its monarchs. “From 1714 through to 1901 there were only six monarchs one of whom George III remains the longest reigning king in British History. Queen Victoria then surpassed her grandfather in both age and length of reign. The period was also one of political stability and the development of constitutional monarchy.” <br /> <br />Sources: ODNB; royal.uk <br/><br/> unknown